Mapleshade's Tragedy
by Firestar1126
Summary: Read on as you discover Mapleshade's kithood, her apprenticeship, and all of the tragedies she has endured. Review!
1. Open Your Eyes!

The beautiful sun shone through the woven brambles as Maplekit growled because Brownkit shoved into her, almost knocking her over.

"Come on Maplekit! I can't do anything until you open your eyes!" Brownkit complained.

"Yeah, just open your eyes!" Stormkit chimed in. _My brothers are so annoying, _Maplekit thought to herself, snuggling closer to her mother, Fawntail  
"Why not you and Stormkit go play so you can give poor Maplekit some peace!" Fawntail scolded gently.

_Play, _Maplekit thought excitedly as she stretched her eyes open. She stared at Brownkit, and meowed "Now are you satisfied?"

"FINALLY!" Brownkit meowed, "Now we can go outside of the nursery to play Capture the Moss!" Maplekit stumbled after her littermates as they charged outside. Fawntail had been talking to her friend, Lightheart, who was expecting kits.

"Hey!" she meowed, halting Maplekit with her tail, "Where do you think you're going?" Maplekit turned her amber eyes at her, and Fawntail purred in pleasure.

"You opened your eyes," she said, relieved.

"Your amber eyes are beautiful," Lightheart meowed.

Maplekit glowed from the compliment.

"Thanks," she replied, chasing after her littermates.

Once she exited the nursery, Brownkit and Stormkit were all ready playing 'Capture the Moss.'

"So how do you play?" Maplekit asked.

"It's super easy. One of us throws the moss ball as far as we can, and once the ball lands, the other two take off. Whoever gets the moss ball first gets to throw it!" As the kits continued to play, Fawntail stayed in the nursery. Fawntail's mate, Hailstorm, came inside.

"Hi," Fawntail purred. Hailstorm bent down to lick Fawntail's ear, and meowed "I can watch over the kits if you'd like," he meowed.

"Thanks," Fawntail replied. Hailstorm nuzzled her cheek, and stepped back out of the nursery.

Brownkit ran over to Hailstorm and complained "Maplekit is cheating! She keeps knocking me over on purpose! She always gets the ball before me!"

"Then fight back!" Hailstorm purred.

"Okay!" Brownkit replied. When Stormkit threw it, Brownkit instantly jumped on her, but Maplekit was too fast, she dodged the leap, and Brownkit crashed to the ground. Maplekit sped on ahead, and picked up the moss ball in her teeth.

"Ha, I win once again!" Maplekit boasted.

"See?" Brownkit complained.

"How 'bout I throw the ball, and you three can chase after it!" Hailstorm offered.

"Yes!" the trio chimed.

Hailstorm picked up the moss ball, and threw it as far as he could. The three kits scampered away at the same time, but Maplekit pulled away with ease.

"She's too fast!" Stormkit complained.

"Then I'll play easier," Maplekit decided. Suddenly, a shriek came from the nursery.

"Lightheart is having her kits!" Brownkit exclaimed.

The trio rushed towards the nursery, only to be stopped by Hailstorm.

"You can't go in there," he informed them.

"Why not?" Stormkit whined.

"Because we need to give Lightheart…" his speech was interrupted by another howl. "Some space," Hailstorm finished.


	2. Lightheart's Kits!

"Can we come in now?" Brownkit asked.

"Yes," Grassheart, Thunderclan's medicine cat, meowed. When they stepped in, there was a she-cat and a tom. Both were bright white, just like their father, Snowtail.

Speaking of Snowtail, he came barging in, worry sparking from his ice blue eyes.

"Is Lightheart o…" he stopped mid-sentence as he noticed the two white kittens, suckling at their mother's belly. He cleared the nursery in one leap, and breathed out "They're perfect."

"What should we name them?" Lightheart asked.

"Well, the tom can be called Cloudkit," Snowtail suggested.

"That's a perfect name. I want to name the she-cat Bluekit,"

Lightheart meowed, sounding exhausted.

"Not very blue," Grassheart observed.

"Are you grassy. No, I don't think so," Lightheart snapped.

"And, her eyes will most likely be blue, if she is a pure white cat," Snowtail pointed out dryly.

_**Sorry for the short chapter! I will be uploading a chapter most likely every other day, unless I'm in the mood for writing. Until then, please review! **_


	3. Whitekit and Bluekit

"Finally, some more kits to play with," Stormkit mewed excitedly.

"They won't be able to play for a few days," Lightheart meowed,

"Not until they open their eyes."

"Well, duh," Maplekit mewed. The three kits scampered off, leaving Lightheart in peace.

"I'll go get you some wet moss," Snowtail offered.

That would be great," sighed Lightheart. Snowtail dashed off, spraying dust all over the beautiful queen's face. Lightheart's only response was a sigh. Lightheart rested her head on her forepaws as her kits settled down beside her.

*two days later*

At almost the same time, the two kits opened their eyes for the first time.

"Wow, that's the fastest I've ever seen a kit open their eyes!" gasped Fawntail.

"I'm going to be the greatest warrior the clans have ever seen!" Whitekit squeaked.

"You stole my plans!" Bluekit snapped.

"Stop bickering, you two!" Lightheart gently scolded, her bright amber eyes full of affection. Maplekit and her brothers came barging into the nursery. When Bluekit and Whitekit turned to see the commotion, Maplekit squealed in delight.

"You've opened your eyes!" she mewed.

"Who are you?" Whitekit squeaked.

"I'm Maplekit, and these are my brothers, Stormkit and Brownkit. We can show you around the camp if you'd like," Maplekit offered.

The twins whipped around and mewed "Can we Lightheart. Can we? Can we?!"

"I guess a little adventure around the camp couldn't hurt," she mewed.

"Yay," they exclaimed, dashing away with Fawntail's litter.

*3 moons later*

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath Highrock for a Clan meeting!" Morningstar, Thunderclan's leader, called out.

"OH MY STARCLAN!" Stormkit squealed. The five kits blundered into the clearing, clashing into each other as they made a clumsy halt. Morningstar purred in amusement.

"Can we be made apprentices?" asked Maplekit.

"Not yet, but you will get a taste of battle practice" These words mystified Maplekit, until she realized what she meant. _We're going to learn to fight off smelly Shadowclan cats, _she thought excitedly. Once all of the cats gathered around the clearing, she began her speech. "First of all, I would like to thank Scorchfur. He assisted Redpaw's warrior training while I was sick, and now that I am back to full health, I can take over her training once more. Speaking of training, we all know of the constant threat from Shadowclan, pushing their borders when they think our backs are turned. So, I've decided to give Fawntail's three kits, Maple kit, Stormkit, and Brownkit a taste of battle training bec…"

"YAY!" Stormkit mewed, leaping straight into the air. Being a former queen, Morningstar didn't get mad, instead, she just purred in laughter.

"I will go with my apprentice Redpaw. Tuftfur, you are in charge as deputy." _What an honor to train with the leader,_ thought Maplekit.


	4. NO REDPAW!

"Why do I have to work with newborn kits? All they're going to do is interrupt my training session!" Redpaw protested.

"Shadowclan is a constant threat to us, and we have to get kits strong, so they grow up to be nice, fit warriors." Morningstar replied.

"They'll never be as good as me," Redpaw boasted cockily.

"We'll see about that," challenged Maplekit.

"You'd better watch out. A hoard of kits might beat an apprentice!" Morningstar joked.

"Come, the climb over the ravine is challenging for small legs like yours!" Morningstar warned.

"Who are you calling small legs!" Stormkit protested. But his jaw gaped in astonishment as a huge boulder towered over them.

"Cats climb that every day?!" Brownkit mewed in awe.

"Yeah, it's SO easy. Maybe kits like you are just too weak!" Redpaw taunted. Determination spread through Maplekit. _I'm going to show him just how strong I am,_ she thought.

Observing the rock more carefully, she started to notice that there were little chinks and dents in the rock where she could propel herself upwards. She leapt towards the first chink. She easily got a pawhold, and she found herself propelling upwards at maximum speed. She soon got to the top, hardly out of breath.

"BEAT THAT MOUSEBRAIN!" she called from the top of the boulder. Redpaw clambered up, but halfway there, he slipped and fell. Down and down he went, and he landed on his head with a THWACK! Maplekit snickered, until she realized that Redpaw wasn't moving.

Maplekit tried her best to get back down, and she was soon at Redpa's side. She looked at his chest. He wasn't breathing.

"He's dead…" Morningstar whispered.

"This is all my fault," Maplekit whimpered, "I challenged him to go as fast as he can."

"No it's not. He was going at a casual speed. It was a mistake!" Morningstar spoke. "He was the last of his family. He had no littermates, and both his parents were slaughtered by Shadowclan," Morningstar spat the last few words. She carried the body to the camp, and when the clan noticed him, they wailed in grief.

"What happened?" Fawntail demanded.

"He was climbing the ravine, and he fell off. He broke his neck. There was nothing we could've done." Morningstar said.

_**A little bit of tragedy! No parents. The worst part? HE WAS THE ONLY APPRENTICE! He had virtually no friends!**_


	5. Grief

_**Sorry about Lightheart's kits! The kits are Bluekit and Whitekit, not Bluekit and Cloudkit, SORRY!**_

"Grassheart, come out here," Morningstar mewed, quiet with grief. When Grassheart stepped out, she gasped.

"What happened?" She asked.

"He fell off the ravine. It's all my fault! Maplekit cried in agony.

"She's grieving. She climbed the ravine, and when Redpaw tried," he slipped, and landed on his head." Morningstar explained.

"Let me get the rosemary and the lavender," Grassheart sighed. He dived back into his den, and came back out with a few herbs. Maplekit and her littermates sat next to Redpaw, whining in grief.

When Bluekit stepped out of the nursery, she asked "Why is Redpaw sleeping in the middle of the hollow?"

"Yeah!" agreed Whitekit

"She's dead!" sobbed Maplekit.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Bluekit and Whitekit wailed, dashing towards Redpaw. They nudged him. "Come on," they cried, "There is a nice fresh vole for you on the fresh-kill pile!" His eyes were glazed, and when Maplekit felt his skull, it was horrifically cracked, from his ear to ear. His skull was split in two.

"No cat should experience grief at such a young age," Morningstar sighed, watching the five kits.

Fawntail stepped out of the nursery, and comforted the five kits.

"It's okay, let's go back in the nur…"

"IT'S NOT OKAY! IT IS ALL MY FAULT HE DIED. I CHALLENGED HIM TO CLIMB THE RAVINE, AND HE SLIPPED!" Maplekit screeched.

"It was not your fault! He made his own decision to race," Fawntail comforted her.

Maplekit sighed.

*Three Moons Later*

Maplekit was in the nursery, waiting for Hailstorm to come back. She was just about to be made an apprentice, but Hailstorm was still out on patrol.

"Can't you believe we are already apprentices?" Maplekit asked Brownkit excitedly.

"I know! Why does Hailstorm have to take so long."

"There he is!" exclaimed Maplekit. He padded in with two mice swinging from his jaws.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath Highrock for a Clan meeting!" Morningstar called. "Today, is a special day for five Thunderclan kits. Maplekit, Brownkit, Stormkit, Whitekit, and Bluekit, please step forward!"


	6. Fourtrees

"From this day forward. You will all be known as Maplepaw, Brownpaw, Stormpaw, Cloudpaw, and Whitepaw. Maplepaw, your mentor will be me. My last apprentice died a tragic death, and we will never forget him. Brownpaw, from this day forward, your mentor will be Tuftfur. His deputyship will be sure to help you along the way to being a warrior…" The ceremony went on, until it finally ended. Surprisingly, Bluepaw's mentor was Grassheart! She was a medicine cat apprentice. Stormpaw, unfairly, got Hailstorm. Lastly, Whitepaw got Ravenstreak.

"Well, I'm going to take you on a tour of the territory today!" announced Morningstar. "It would be the best if we all split up," advised Morningstar.

"Okay," the other four mentors agreed. When faced with the same rock that killed Redpaw, she easily leapt up. Morningstar followed.

"We are first going to go to… Fourtrees," Morningstar mewed.

"Can we hunt there?" asked Maplepaw.

"Not today, maybe tomorrow we can work on hunting," decided Morningstar.

"Ok," mewed Maplepaw. She easily cleared the ravine, and Morningstar, completely surprised, congratulated Maplepaw.

"I've never seen a newly made apprentice jump up the ravine with such ease!" she exclaimed.

"Maybe I'm just awesome?" Maplepaw boasted, puffing her chest out.

Stormpaw, overhearing her, yowled "Stupid bragger!"

"Oh, well look at who's talking!" Maplepaw yelled her comeback.

"Stop arguing," snapped Hailstorm, Stormpaw's mentor.

Maplekit angrily followed her mentor, until they reached Fourtrees.

Four huge oaks towered over a pretty large rock, even bigger than the Highrock.

"Normally, we hunt around here, but never actually in Fourtrees, because it belongs to all four clans. Can you smell that fishy scent? That's Riverclan. Remember it well," instructed Morningstar. The first day as an apprentice dragged on, until Maplepaw's paws were ready to fall off.

"Go and get some fresh-kill, and join your denmates. You've had a long day." Her prey selection was a chaffinch, and she carried it over to her friends.

"She's like, 'Remember Shadowclan's scent!' As if I'd miss that disgusting stench!" exclaimed Stormpaw. They chatted on until the sun began to sink behind the trees, illuminating the sky in a warm orange blanket.

_**Sorry I haven't been uploading for a while! I will be uploading more often, I will make sure!**_


	7. Apprentice Chores

**Wow has it been awhile. Is anyone still reading this? If you are please review! I'm sorry I haven't been writing. I forgot my password, and only recently remembered it as I was reading Warriors. Well, here's the seventh chapter!**

Maplepaw's visions of apprenticeship included fierce, exciting battle training and breath-taking hunting. She hadn't foreseen the negatives, such as the aching muscles, or worse, collecting moss and searching the elders for ticks.

It had been a quarter moon since Maplepaw became an apprentice. She was out of the camp, climbing up a tree. She was gathering moss. At least she had her two brothers, Stormpaw and Brownpaw.

"Man, why can't we been doing exciting things?" Stormpaw whined.

"Yeah, everyone knows that the elders will just complain about the moss we gathered!" Brownpaw agreed.

"Well at least afterwards we have…" Maplepaw started.

"Ticks and mouse bile?" Stormpaw asked. Maplepaw groaned.

"I forgot about that!" Maplepaw sighed.

"You always were quite forgetful," Stormpaw recalled. After the trio finished their moss gathering, they returned to camp. Once we finished the bedding, the elders looked at it in disapproval.

"There's a piece of dirt in mine!" One of the elders snapped.

"There's a twig in mine! You apprentices need to learn how to collect moss!"

Smothering down the anger that was building inside of Maplepaw, she reluctantly removed all of the pieces of rubbish the elders had pointed out.

Next, Maplepaw followed her two brothers to Grassheart's den, where they picked up mouse bile. It dangled precariously on a branch, and the apprentices got to work removing the ticks. Once they were finished, they went to get their fair share of food, and carried it back to the apprentice's den, where they recalled the actually exciting parts of their first week of training.

**So there you have it. I'll be uploading to this story regularly once more again, so hopefully there are still people reading this!**


	8. Stormpaw's Ego

The sun rose from the trees as another day began. Maplepaw and the other four were with Hailstorm and Ravenstreak, Whitepaw's mentor. They were in the training hollow, awaiting a fierce morning of intense battle training.

"I don't need practice," started Stormpaw, "I could easily defeat these four!"

"Really?" Hailstorm snapped. He was sick and tired of Stormpaw's annoying ego, and he was ready to teach him a lesson.

"How about you battle Maplepaw?" he hissed. He had seen Maplepaw's unusual strength, and knew that she was easily the strongest out of the five.

"Psh, whatever," Stormpaw chided. The cats cleared out of the way to give the two cats space. The sand under their feet was soft, for a reason. It made battle practice less dangerous.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Stormpaw boasted, though uncertainty glittered in his eyes.

"Start!" Hailstorm yowled. Stormpaw charged at Maplepaw at full speed. Right before impact, Maplepaw nimbly dodged out of the way, and tripped Stormpaw. His face crashed into the ground as Maplepaw leapt on top of him. He was pinned.

"Now are you afraid of me?" Maplepaw asked.

"GET OFF!" he snarled. Maplepaw let him get up.

"I could've won if I wanted to!" he said flustered.

"You were so pathetic! I bet a mouse could've defeated you!" Bluepaw laughed. Stormpaw shuffled his paws in embarrassment.

"I think you learned your lesson," Hailstorm said. They continued the battle practice as normal, and soon, they returned to camp, fully worn out.

Stormpaw was still angry at everyone, and when the apprentices went to get their fair share of fresh kill, he went and sat by himself.

"I feel bad for showing him up. Maybe I should go apologize," Maplepaw said guiltily.

"He got what he deserved," Whitekit yawned. Maplepaw got up, her muscles aching from the training, and stumbled over to Stormpaw.

"What do you want?" he snapped. He glanced away when Maplepaw sat next to him.

"I'm sorry I showed you up this morning," Maplepaw apologized.

"How are you so strong?" he asked, glaring at her, "While I'm so weak?"

"You're not weak!" defended Maplepaw.

"Compared to you I am! You always bring back the most fresh kill, you always win the battles!" he yelled.

"I think you're being ridiculous!" Maplepaw snapped.

"No I'm not!" he yelled again.

"You should come back and join us," Maplepaw said.

"Fine," grumbled Stormpaw.

When all was said and done, when they curled up in their nests after their dinner, they were still friends, and that would never change.

**It's been awhile… Sorry! I don't know if anyone is going to read this, but make sure to favorite and review! Thanks!**


	9. Unexpected Surprise

**This fanfic thing is kind of strange for me, but you guys seem to like it, so I guess I'll continue. If you really want me to write this, make sure to review and favorite so I know you guys want the next chapter! Thanks for reading! **

**Firestar1126**

The moon shone high in the sky, Silverpelt looking down at the cats of Thunderclan. "All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highstone for a Clan Meeting!" Morningstar yowled.

Five sleepy apprentices tumbled over each other as the unexpected announcement rang through the camp. Maplepaw easily got out first, leaving her littermates and friends in the dust. She scrambled to a halt next to her mother, Fawntail.

"What's going on?" Maplepaw inquired, her four fellow apprentices coming to a halt beside her.

"You five are becoming warriors! You look like a disaster! Clean yourself up!" Fawntail scolded.

"We didn't get a warrior's test!" Brownpaw yelled.

"I did," Maplepaw said confusedly.

"Why did you not tell us?!" the four chimed.

"Because I thought you had your test too!" Their bickering was drowned out by Morningstar's speech as she started to talk.

"We are gathered here today for a special ceremony! Maplepaw, come forward!" Maplepaw glanced at her friends uncertainly, and was met with ice cold glares.

"I, Morningstar, leader of Thunderclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn. Maplepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" Morningstar said the familiar words.

Maplepaw paused. The cats surrounding the Highrock looked at her confusedly.

"Say 'I do'..." Morningstar started. _Why are they doing this to me. I want to be normal, just like my friends. Why are they singling me out? _Maplepaw thought.

"WHY AM I BEING SINGLED OUT FROM MY FRIENDS?!" Maplepaw wailed. She ran away from the confused cats, and pelted out of the camp.

She kept running, even when the pain in her legs told her to stop. She tripped on a log and tumbled into the ground, skidding to a halt.

Riverclan scent surrounded her, but she was too miserable to protect herself. She had crossed the border.

"Please don't hurt me," Maplepaw sobbed.

"Why would I hurt you?" A pale brown tom with holly eyes asked. He was a Riverclan apprentice; she'd met him at a Gathering.

"Applepaw?"

**Cliffhanger! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I think it's pretty cool, and I'm definitely going to have a hard time coming up with their first meeting! Firestar1126, out!**


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